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24 Ent. & Sports Law. 3 (2006-2007)
Pinned down Labor Law and Professional Wrestling - Part III: What the Future Holds for Professional Wrestling's Labor Relations

handle is hein.journals/entspl24 and id is 3 raw text is: Pinned Down Labor Law and Professional Wrestling Part III: What the Future Holds for Professional Wrestling's Labor Relations By Jamie Sharp This is the third and final part of a series on labor law issues in pro wrestling - the crossroad of sport and entertainment. o long as Vince McMahon and World Wrestling Entertainment dominate the professional wrestling industry, wrestlers will have a difficult time organiz- ing as a unified labor group. Nonetheless, the need to unionize and protect the livelihood of wrestlers is more important now than ever. Health problems affecting wrestlers Over the past ten years, professional wrestling fans have been accustomed to a higher impact style where acrobatic moves and the use of foreign objects are quite common.! While the style is very exciting, this new style has resulted in more injuries that undoubtedly will affect this generation of Wrestlers as they grow older.2 Although injuries have always been commonplace in professional wrestling, the frequency of career-threatening injuries has increased to unprecedented levels.3 World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. (WWE) has even taken note of these problems as it has required that its wrestlers tone down their styles so as to minimize injuries.4 Regardless of these changes, fans expect a more physical style that requires wrestlers to sacrifice their bodies to entertain these fans, and wrestlers continue to test their physical limits.' Perhaps the most disturbing health problem facing wrestlers is not that they are injured more frequently and severely than ever before but the effect that the wear-and-tear from this high-impact style will have on their bodies when they retire. In recent years, many wrestlers from the 1980s have either undergone or need hip and knee replacement surgeries to improve their quality of life.' This trend is partic- ularly disturbing because the wrestlers undergoing these procedures wrestled a particularly low-impact style, especial- ly when compared to today's standards. For example, the legendary Hulk Hogan, who rarely left his feet when he wrestled, has had his knee and hip replaced,7 yet he is only 51 years old. If a wrestler such as Hogan has these kinds of health problems in his early fifties, then the wrestlers of the current generation who wrestle a much more physically demanding style should expect to live in pain once their careers end. Another disturbing health problem facing wrestlers is the effect of steroids. Since the 1970s, wrestlers have been linked to steroids.' Steroids allow wrestlers to add muscle mass to enhance their appearance.10 To the fans, wrestlers who are on steroids appear superhuman because they are freakishly muscular. In the 1980s, Vince McMahon capital- ized on this superhuman image by promoting these large muscle-bound wrestlers.1 Unfortunately, while steroids enhance a user's appearance, steroids also have debilitating health effects.'2 When the health problems associated with steroids became well-known-in the early 1990s, the Department of Justice began an investigation of Vince McMahon for steroid distribution.3 The investigation and subsequent trial lasted several years but, in 1994, McMahon was acquitted of steroid distribution.4 Nonetheless, the media coverage of former World Wrestling Federation (WWF) wrestlers such as Hulk Hogan and the Ultimate Warrior, who testified that they had used steroids, tainted the industry. In an effort to distance itself from the steroid problem, the WWE deemphasized muscle- bound wrestlers in favor of smaller wrestlers such as Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels5 The company also began testing its wrestlers for anabolic steroids.6 As time progressed, the com- pany eventually abandoned its steroid testing policy and reverted to promoting muscle-bound wrestlers.'7 While the company openly frowns upon steroid use, the increased pro- motion of muscle-bound wrestlers sends a dangerous mes- sage to smaller wrestlers: get big through whatever means necessary or you will not be working for the WWE.'9 By pro- moting muscle-bound wrestlers, the WWE implicitly encour- ages the use of steroids by its wrestlers. Sadly, over a dozen of the stars that worked for the company during its last era of promoting muscle-bound wrestlers have suffered untimely deaths before the age of 50.1 This strategy of promoting mus- cle-bound wrestlers while not testing the wrestlers for steroids is a recipe for disaster, especially when these muscle-bound wrestlers wrestle such a high-impact style. To illustrate the potential health problems associated with today's style of professional wrestling and the use of steroids, look at the life of The Dynamite Kid Tom Billington. In the 1980s, Billington was arguably the world's best wrestler and his innovative style was years ahead of its time.21 Billington, however, was only 5 feet 8 inches tall in an era where muscle-bound wrestlers received much of the attention.2? Even though his talent was matched by few, Billington was viewed as too small so he took steroids to add muscle mass, which helped to further his career. Through- out his career, Billington suffered from constant back pain due to his high impact ring style.4 In order to cope with the nagging pain, Billington took prescription drugs. Even- tually, Billington's ignorance of the pain led to a freak, but devastating, back injury.26 After taking several months off, Billington returned to work, using his high impact style to wow fans and steroids to enhance his physiqueY.2 Billington, however, continued to wrestle in extreme pain until finally retiring less than five years later? In the years following his retirement,' Billington's health continued to fail and, by the late 1990s, Billington was largely confined to a wheelchair with little money and no career prospects.29 Today's wrestlers should concern themselves with the plight of Tom Billington for three reasons. First, today's wrestlers should be aware that Billington was one of the few wrestlers from the previous generation that wrestled a style similar to today's wrestlers and, undoubtedly, Billington's in- ring style was a major factor in the health problems that Spring 2006 /Volume 24, Number 1 / Entertainment and Sports Lawyer 3

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